


County General

by SerenaElisabet



Category: Political RPF, Political RPF - US 20th c., Political RPF - US 21st c.
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Hospital, Alternate Universe - Roommates/Housemates, Another AU from me where Hillary is a single mother, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Mother-Daughter Relationship, Roommates
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-22
Updated: 2020-09-13
Packaged: 2021-03-05 04:07:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 13,289
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25438186
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SerenaElisabet/pseuds/SerenaElisabet
Summary: Single mother Hillary Rodham was happy with her quiet little life working as a nurse manager in a busy Chicago hospital and caring for her daughter and her mother in her spare time. But what happens when she gets a new job and crosses paths with a handsome and charming pediatrician? Will she let him into her and her daughter's life? Hospital AU.
Relationships: Bill Clinton/Hillary Clinton
Comments: 16
Kudos: 33





	1. Don't Judge A Book By Its Cover

**Author's Note:**

> So I said I wasn't going to start a new multichapter fic until Piece by Piece was complete but...I got ahead with my writing of Piece by Piece and wrote several chapters of that one in advance AND the plot bunnies struck and wouldn't go away so here we are haha. Blame this on watching too much ER in quarantine lol. 
> 
> I can't promise how often I'll update this one as Piece by Piece is my first priority right now but I wanted to write something new that was somewhat lighter and fluffier than that one (at least for now). The stuff I'm writing for that one right now is getting INTENSE so my brain needed a little break from writing that one lol. But no worries, I plan to continue and work on both Piece by Piece and this as long as time and circumstances allow. 
> 
> Prefacing this with I'm not a doctor or medical professional so any medical information in the story comes from research and watching too many medical dramas on TV. 
> 
> Timeline wise, this one is set in the mid-to-late nineties and Bill and Hillary are in their mid thirties. Any questions, leave them in the comments. Hope you enjoy! :)

Hillary Rodham sat at the admit desk of Chicago’s County General Emergency Department and absentmindedly played with the tail of her side braid while she put the finishing touches on that week’s nursing schedule. She discreetly rolled her eyes while she watched Dr. William (Bill) Clinton shamelessly flirt with a group of giggling nurse trainees on the other side of the admit desk. She was trying her best to ignore Dr. Clinton and the loud laughter emanating from only a few feet away in order to focus on the pile of paperwork she had in front of her but ignoring it was proving to be difficult as it was well...difficult to ignore.   
Of course, nurses gossip so she had heard all the rumors about Dr. Clinton and all of his various flings and affairs with most of the women who worked in the hospital. When she had worked upstairs in the Surgical ICU, she was pretty sure he had slept with or at least dated most of her single colleagues. But while she had heard all the gossip about him and knew of his reputation around the hospital, this was the first time she was working a shift with him down in the ER.   
She had recently been hired as the ER’s new Nurse Manager after the position became available and she had decided to throw her hat in the ring. Luckily the Chief of the ER, the hiring committee, and the hospital board all thought she was the right person for the job and she had been officially promoted. She had already been in the position for two weeks but this was her first time working the same shift as Dr. Clinton. Bill had been on vacation Hillary’s first week on the job, and when he returned to work they hadn’t been scheduled to work shifts at the same time of day. Hillary had been getting mostly day shifts during her training and Bill had been working the night shift. Therefore, this was her first time actually seeing Dr. Clinton in action.   
From what she had heard about him, she had heard he was a brilliant physician, seeing as he was double board-certified in pediatrics and Emergency Medicine. Hillary was glad that County General had offered him a position as a Pediatric Attending after his Pediatric Fellowship had ended. The fact that they had a dedicated Pediatric Attending working in the ER was one of the things that had attracted Hillary to wanting to transfer from the Surgical ICU down to the ER, due to her love of children. But...he still seemed to have some personal distractions while at work which was worrying to Hillary but as Nurse Manager, she wasn’t his boss. Dr. Nancy Pelosi, County’s Chief of the Emergency Medicine Department was. 

“Dr. Clinton, didn’t I ask you to show these girls how to start an IV-” Hillary paused to check her watch. “Half an hour ago?”   
County General’s Emergency Department was usually _extremely_ busy and chaotic, and while Hillary knew a trauma case could still come through the doors at any minute, for once it had been a pretty slow day. And since Dr. Clinton didn’t have any patients on the board and Hillary had a mountain of paperwork to get through, she had asked Bill if he would help show some of the younger nursing students how to start an IV. He had agreed but so far none of them had actually moved from the admit desk and the four of them had just been chatting (or rather, flirting) away.   
“Oh, I’m sorry, Hillary,” one of the younger girls apologized. “We just got to talking and…”   
They were suddenly interrupted when the Ambulance Bay doors burst open and the paramedics rolled in a teenager on a gurney.   
“What have we got?” Bill asked, snapping on a pair of gloves and rushing over to the gurney.   
“Sixteen year old male, auto versus pedestrian. Good breath sounds, vitals are stable, heart rate’s a little high at 120, pulse ox is 95,” A male paramedic quickly rattled off.   
“Matt, what’s open?” Hillary called over her shoulder to the ER’s twentysomething desk clerk, as she walked around the admit desk and walked alongside Bill and the paramedics.   
“Trauma One,” Matt quickly answered.   
“Trauma One it is,” Hillary said as they wheeled the gurney down the hallway towards one of the ER’s two trauma rooms for extreme cases. The ER was a lot more fast-paced than the Surgical ICU. While Hillary was still getting used to the frenzied and chaotic environment, and she was still learning the ropes of her new position as a Charge Nurse, she was always ready to tackle any challenge she faced head on. This new role and new environment was no exception.   
“Can somebody call my mom?” The teenage boy, looking terrified as he lat on the gurney, suddenly asked.   
“Of course we’ll call your mom,” Hillary assured the young boy, staring down at him softly and giving him a kind and reassuring smile as they rounded the corner and wheeled the gurney into the trauma room. “What’s your name, sweetie?”   
“Ben.”   
“Okay, Ben. We’re going to get you all patched up,” Bill assured the teenage boy as he got ready to transfer the patient from the gurney and onto the trauma table. “On my count...1….2...,3,” Bill counted out as in unison on 3, Hillary, Bill, the paramedics and the rest of the nurses got the patient transferred.   
As Hillary got an IV started and drew blood for the tests Bill had ordered, she marvelled at how it was amazing that Bill could go from shameless flirt to serious seasoned doctor in only a matter of minutes. Hillary had only been working with him for a few hours that day, but she could already tell that he was incredible with his patients. 

* * * * *

“You were really good in there,” Hillary heard from behind her, as she exited the trauma room after Ben had been sent off for a CT Scan. She ripped off her gloves and looked behind her to see who had said it.   
“Oh, thanks,” she accepted the compliment, disposing of her gloves into the proper hazardous waste bin, as she realized Dr. Clinton was the one who had complimented her. “So were you,” she added, as she watched Bill rip off his yellow plastic trauma gown and dispose of it.   
“And I’m sorry about earlier,” Bill apologized as the two of them headed down the hallway towards the admit desk. “I’ll go help out those nurse trainees now. For real this time,” Bill chuckled. “I know we’ve been working together for a few hours now but I don’t think we’ve been properly introduced yet. I’m Bill. Bill Clinton.”   
“I know who you are, Dr. Clinton,” Hillary said, slightly chuckling as they arrived back at the admit desk. “I’m Hillary Rodham, the new ER Charge Nurse.”   
“Well, it’s nice to meet you, Hillary. I hope you’re settling in okay. And none of this Dr. Clinton business. It’s just Bill.” He gave her a kind and reassuring smile.   
“Well, Bill,” Hillary said, picking up a chart of a patient who had just been admitted and was waiting to be seen. She glanced at it and luckily it was a pediatric case. “Would you like to come help me with this ankle fracture in Curtain Area Two?”   
“It would be my pleasure,” Bill replied with a charming smile, as he followed Hillary over to where their next patient was waiting.   
  


* * * * *

Despite her negative first impressions and her preconceived notions of Bill, throughout the rest of her shift, Hillary had come to really enjoy working with him that day, and she had been impressed with his skills as a doctor. Both in the way he treated and behaved towards patients, especially the pediatric patients, but she had also been impressed with his vast medical knowledge. The rest of the day had flown by and suddenly it was seven P.M and Hillary’s shift was over.   
“Hey, you off?” Hillary heard from behind her as she grabbed her purse out of her locker in the ER’s staff lounge.   
She turned around and saw Bill approaching his own locker which was a few lockers down from the one that she had been assigned.   
Hillary nodded. “You?”   
Bill nodded. “Yep. But I’m back in again bright and early at seven. How about you?”   
“I’m not on again until seven tomorrow night,” Hillary answered, as she put her light brown trench coat on over top of her light blue scrubs. It was her turn in the rotation to work a set of night shifts over the next few days.   
“Ah, so you’ll be coming in right when I’m getting off,” Bill drawled in what Hillary had detected as a Southern accent. Bill smirked at her.   
Hillary chuckled in return. “Yep. Seems like it.”   
“Well, do you want to grab a drink or something?” Bill asked her, as he hung his lab coat up in his locker and put his jacket on. “Seeing as you're not on again until tomorrow night. We could go to O’Grady’s? It’s not too far from here.”   
“Um...I have plans tonight,” Hillary awkwardly answered, closing her locker and making sure to lock it behind her. “But maybe another time,” she vaguely answered.   
“Oh….okay,” Bill looked surprised (was he not used to rejection? Hillary thought) but he shrugged, good naturedly. “Another time.”   
Hillary nodded and started walking away from Bill, towards the door of the staff lounge. “Another time.”   
  


Bill closed his locker and watched her walk away, her braid swinging behind her. He frowned. There was something mysterious and alluring about the ER’s new Nurse Manager and Bill was determined to get to the bottom of who she really was. 

* * * * *

After Hillary had let herself into the cute little house underneath the El tracks that she had bought and fixed up a year prior, she found her ten year old daughter, Katherine (Kate), sitting at the kitchen table working on her math homework, while her mother, Dorothy, stood over the stove stirring a pot of spaghetti sauce.   
“Hey,” Hillary happily greeted them, taking off her coat and giving Kate a quick peck on the top of her head.   
“Hi, Mom,” Kate softly smiled at her mom as she looked up from her work. The girl was a spitting image of Hillary, with long blonde hair and her mother's cheekbones. She was nearly an identical younger version of Hillary save for her brown eyes which she had gotten from her father.   
“How was work, dear?” Dorothy asked her daughter, smiling over at her before she moved to drain the spaghetti noodles in the sink.   
Hillary shrugged as she opened up the cutlery drawer so she could set the table for dinner. “Oh, it was fine.”   
“You’re settling into the new position okay?” Dorothy asked.   
Hillary nodded as she put three napkins, forks and spoons at her, Dorothy and Kate’s respective spots at the kitchen table. “Uh-huh. It’s going well.”   
“That’s good, mom,” Kate smiled to herself as she swept up her math homework into a neat pile of papers and set it off to the side, so she could return to it after dinner.   
“Are you almost finished with your homework?” Hillary checked with her, as she grabbed three pasta bowls from one of the kitchen cupboards.   
Kate nodded. “Almost. Grandma helped me.”   
“Good,” Hillary nodded.   
Kate was quiet, serious, and studious like her mother, and she was fairly introverted but she was also fun-loving and had a kind heart just like her mother. Hillary knew the last two years had been rough on her between Hillary’s marriage to Kate’s father ending and Hillary’s father passing away but Kate had persevered through these challenges and was excelling in school. Hillary was _very_ proud of her.   
She was at that awkward age where she was too old for daycare or a babysitter but not old enough to stay home by herself yet, especially with Hillary’s erratic work schedule that included several night shifts a week so even though it was rough that Hillary and her ex-husband had separated right around the same time Hugh Rodham, Hillary’s father had passed away, it was serendipitous in a way because Dorothy was able to move in with Hillary and Kate. She could help Hillary with Kate when Hillary was working and Kate wasn’t with her father, and Hillary could help her mother in return. Plus the three of them all benefited from each other’s company. It was a win-win situation all around.   
“I worked with this amazing doctor today,” Hillary remarked as she started making everyone’s plates, ready to tell her mother and her daughter about her day over a nice homecooked meal that had been lovingly prepared by her mother. 

* * * * *

Meanwhile on the other side of town, Bill had opted not to go to O’Grady’s Pub near the hospital and instead he had decided to grab a drink at a jazz club that he sometimes liked to frequent. He always enjoyed the live jazz performances they held nightly. It was a great way for him to discover new and upcoming local musicians and he had even played the saxophone there once or twice before himself.   
On this night, he had sat at the bar and was enjoying his bourbon when he had met a woman around his age. Was her name Sheryl? Sherry? He couldn’t remember. They had struck up a conversation. She was an insurance saleswoman who also shared a passion for jazz music. And while the conversation was pleasant enough and she was a perfectly lovely woman (and if Bill was being honest with himself, he probably would end up inviting her back to his apartment later), he couldn’t get his thoughts of a certain new ER nurse out of his mind. 

  
  


To Be Continued… 


	2. Spitting Image

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I managed to write a few more chapters of this, yay! And I have lots of ideas for this one bouncing around in my head that I just have to get out of my head and onto paper lol. Hope you enjoy this little update :)

“Well, it looks like it’s just a sprain but I’m going to have to order an X-ray to make sure it’s not broken,” Bill explained to the ten year old female patient sitting on a gurney in front of him. She had been taken into the Emergency Room by her grandmother after school with a wrist injury that the patient had said was sustained during gym class while the girl was playing volleyball. Her wrist was extremely swollen and painful. Bill didn’t think it was fractured but he still needed to rule a fracture out before he could come up with a proper course of action for treatment.    
“Where did your grandmother go?” Bill asked the young patient as he readjusted the ice pack on her wrist.    
“She went to find my mom,” the girl explained. “She works in the hospital.”    
“Oh, she does? Perfect,” Bill nodded, making a note on Katherine Sullivan’s chart. “We’ll track her down for you.”   
Kate nodded. “Can we wait for my Grandma to come back before I get the X-ray?” She was hoping Dorothy would be able to find her mom by then. It was a busy day in the ER as usual but Kate knew her mom had to be around somewhere.    
Just then, Dorothy Rodham burst through the door of Exam Room 2. “Hey, sweetie. The desk clerk said that your mom’s stuck upstairs in a meeting but that they would try to page her.”   
Kate nodded and sadly sighed.    
“What department does she work in?” Bill asked, assuming girl's mother worked in hospital administration if she was in a meeting. “I could try to pull her out of the meeting,” Bill offered.   
“She works here. In the ER,” Dorothy answered. “Hillary Rodham.”    
“Hillary Rodham.” Bill raised his eyebrows in surprise as he suddenly made the connection. He mentally kicked himself for not realizing he had been treating Hillary's daughter sooner. He had only known Dorothy’s first name and Katherine’s last name was Sullivan but he should have figured it out sooner. Because right in that moment he realized that the two women in front of him looked  _ just _ like his new colleague. Especially the younger girl, his patient. Hillary’s daughter could be Hillary’s spitting image, Bill thought. She was a younger looking version of her mother right down to the long blonde hair that was in a braid down her back.    
“Why didn’t you say something earlier? I’ll be right back,” Bill said, putting Katherine’s chart down. “I think I know where your mother is,” he added, as he remembered Hillary had gone upstairs for a nursing committee meeting with other Nurse Managers from other various departments in the hospital, and that she had asked Laura, one of the ER’s senior nurses to cover for her for a bit.    
“Thank you, Dr. Clinton,” Dorothy said as she reassuringly squeezed Kate’s (uninjured) hand.    
“No problem,” Bill assured the two of them before he quickly turned on his heel and headed out of the exam room and towards the elevators. 

* * * * *

By the time Bill had taken the elevator upstairs to the administrative wing of the hospital and found the conference room where the nursing committee meeting was being held, it looked like the meeting had just ended as the various committee members were filing out of the room and heading back to work.    
“Hey,” Bill jogged over and caught up with Hillary just as she was about to head down the hallway towards the elevator.    
“Oh, hey!” Hillary said, a look of surprise on her face. She kindly smiled at Bill. “What are you doing up here? Is everything okay downstairs?”    
“Everything’s fine,” Bill assured her. “Now don’t panic, she’s perfectly fine. But your daughter Katherine was brought in by your mother. She injured her wrist in gym class.”    
“What?” Hillary still gasped in surprise, despite Bill’s preface that she was fine. “Is she okay?” she asked, an alarmed look on her face as she started briskly walking towards the elevators, now even more inclined to want to get back down to the ER.    
“Oh, yeah she's fine,” Bill assured Hillary again. “A little shaken up and scared, I think, but she’ll be fine. I think it's just a sprain but I’m going to get it X-rayed just in case.”    
Hillary nodded and quickly jabbed the ‘down’ button for the elevator. 

* * * * *

“Hey, mama,” Kate said with a small smile when Hillary entered Exam Room 2.   
_"Hi_ , baby,” Hillary said, rushing over to her daughter’s side. She was glad that her daughter seemed to be in relatively good spirits despite her injured wrist. Hillary obviously treated hundreds if not thousands of patients a week but it was different when the patient was your own family member, especially your child. “Thanks for bringing her in, Mom,” Hillary gratefully said to Dorothy.    
Dorothy nodded. “When I picked her up from school Ms. Foster said we might want to get it looked at. It was pretty swollen before."    
Hillary nodded. “It’s good that you brought her in. You never know.” She started examining her daughter’s injured wrist. “Can you still bend it, honey?”    
“A little,” Kate nodded. “But it hurts,” she whined.    
Hillary nodded. “I know, sweetie,” she softly stared at her daughter and frowned slightly. “I’m sorry, sweetheart. But I agree with Bill. I don’t think it's broken but let’s get it X-rayed just in case.”   
Kate nodded just as one of the ER nurses poked her head into the room to tell them that radiology was ready for them. 

* * * * *

“There. You are good to go, Kate,” Bill said as he finished wrapping Kate’s wrist with a compression bandage. Bill and Hillary had been right. The X-rays confirmed that Kate’s wrist wasn’t fractured, it was just a slight sprain. “Keep icing it for the next 24 hours to reduce the swelling and take ibuprofen for the pain if you need to,” he explained out of habit but he knew his patient was in good hands having a nurse as a mother, and especially a nurse as amazing as Hillary.    
Usually he would have left such a simple task such as wrapping a compression bandage to a nurse or a medical student to do but he decided to make an exception for Hillary’s daughter and do it himself.    
“Thank you  _ so _ much, Bill,” Hillary gratefully said, kissing the top of Kate’s head.    
“It was no problem,” Bill assured her. “That wrist will be healed and good as new soon. You’ll be back on the volleyball court in a few days I’m sure,” he said to Kate with a boyish grin.    
“Thank you Dr. Clinton,” Kate smiled back at Bill. Usually she was shy around strangers but she had quickly warmed up to Bill. He had that effect on people.   
“You are _very_ welcome. And just call me Bill,” he smiled at her as he picked up Kate’s chart and grabbed a pen out of the front pocket of his lab coat. "Anyways, you are good to go, Miss Kate,” he added as he signed Kate’s discharge orders.    
“I’ll see you two at home in a few hours,” Hillary said to her mom and daughter as they started gathering up their things and putting their coats on.    
“Why don’t you head home, too, Hillary?” Bill asked, handing Kate’s discharge papers to Hillary for her to sign off on. “I’m sure Laura or Kristy will be happy to cover the rest of your shift.”    
“It’s fine,” Hillary waved him off, knowing she only had two more hours to go until the end of her shift. That wasn’t too long and she knew Kate was in good hands with Dorothy. It was just a sprained wrist after all.    
Bill nodded and shrugged, figuring it was up to Hillary whether she wanted to finish her shift or not.    
“How about we go get some ice cream, dear?” Dorothy asked Kate as they made their way out of the exam room.    
“Before dinner?” Kate’s eyebrows rose in surprise.    
“I think we can make an exception  _ just _ this once,” Hillary chuckled. “Go have fun with Grandma and I’ll see you at home in a little bit.”    
Kate nodded and hugged her mom goodbye. “See you later, Mom. Love you.”    
“Love you, too.” Hillary pecked Kate’s forehead before she watched Kate and Dorothy exit out the ambulance bay doors. 

Hillary had other patients to resume seeing but she decided to duck into the staff lounge for a quick five minute break first. She was just pouring herself a cup of coffee from the coffee pot in the corner when Bill walked in.    
“I didn’t know you had a daughter,” Bill remarked to her, as he grabbed a can of Diet Coke from the fridge.    
Hillary shrugged and sunk down into the lounge’s well-worn black leather couch. “I do,” she nodded, putting her coffee cup down on the coffee table in front of her.   
“She’s a really sweet girl,” Bill complimented, sitting down on the couch beside Hillary.   
“Thank you,” Hillary softly smiled. “And thank you for taking such good care of my Kitty Cat today.”    
Bill smiled at the nickname. “It was no trouble.”    
“I just try to keep my professional and my personal life separate,” Hillary explained, taking a sip of her coffee. But with Kate getting older and Hillary working in a new department and a new position, she guessed she was open to Kate coming around the ER more often and getting to know her colleagues. Hopefully under better circumstances next time.   
As she put her coffee cup back down she noticed Bill (not so discreetly) trying to check to see if she had a wedding ring or not.    
She chuckled. “Divorced.”    
“Hmmm?” Bill said, playing nonchalant.    
“I’m divorced,” Hillary explained. “Kate’s dad and I aren’t together anymore.”   
“Oh." Bill nodded. "I’m sorry, Hillary." He sighed.    
“It’s okay, really,” Hillary assured Bill. “Steven, my ex, and I are still really great friends and he’s a really good dad to Kate. He gets her every other weekend and every Wednesday night. But honestly, we get along better as friends and we’re better parents to Kate as friends than we ever were when we were a couple.”    
It hadn’t been a bitter breakup and nothing major had caused their divorce. They had just slowly drifted apart over time after almost ten years of marriage. Since they were already living like friends or roommates, and not as husband and wife, they didn’t want to prolong the inevitable and decided to go their separate ways while remaining friendly for Kate’s sake.   
“He has a new girlfriend now, Sandra, who Kate luckily adores and who is  _ much _ more compatible with him than Steven and I ever were.” Hillary chuckled as she stood up from the couch in order to get back to work and finish the remainder of her shift.    
“Back to work?” Bill asked, following her lead as he followed Hillary out of the lounge and back towards the admit desk.   
Hillary nodded. “Back to work.” 

To Be Continued… 


	3. Apartment For Rent

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm hoping that updating this will motivate me to continue writing this story and to finish writing Chapter 4 sooner or later lol. Hope you enjoy the update and thanks SO much to all who have read and commented! It is much appreciated! :)

A few days later, Bill frowned as he poured over the classified ads in front of him. He was looking for a new apartment as his landlord had recently steeply increased the rent in his building. He loved his current apartment but between having to finish paying back his medical school loans, and his other expenses, he just couldn’t swing paying the rent on it anymore with the new rent increase. However, nothing in the classifieds sounded appealing to him at all.   
Joe Biden, one of the hospital’s general surgeons came over to the admit desk and approached Bill, noticing his colleague hunched over the classifieds.   
“You looking for a new place to live?”   
“Yeah,” Bill sighed harshly. “My landlord increased my rent an _insane_ amount.”   
“Well, don’t bother with those,” he gestured to the newspaper in Bill’s hand. “Let me hook you up with my realtor. He’ll find you a few options if you want.”   
“That would be great, thanks,” Bill nodded and smiled at his friend and colleague.   
Joe nodded before he started heading towards Curtain Area Three off to the consult he had been paged down to the ER for. “I’ll give you his number when I'm finished with this consult.”   
“Great, thanks,” Bill called after Joe as Joe walked away to attend to his patient.   
However, just as Bill was taking a sip of coffee and went to tuck his coffee cup out of sight on one of the shelves underneath the admit desk, one ad in particular caught his eye. 

_Semi-furnished one bedroom basement apartment for rent.  
Access to kitchen, laundry, and other amenities. _   
  


Bill circled it with the blue pen he had just pulled out of his lab coat pocket. It sounded promising, the rent was dirt cheap, and it wasn’t too far from the hospital, only a couple of El train stops away. 

* * * * *

Later that evening, after his shift, he tentatively approached the address that had been listed in the ad. Should he have called first to make an appointment? He had meant to call but work had gotten crazy due to a major car pileup on the highway and all of the ensuing victims who had been brought into the ER for treatment and then he had well...forgotten to call the number listed in the ad. But he was still eager to check the apartment out. As he walked up to the front door he just hoped that the owner of the house was around on a Friday night. 

* * * * *

Meanwhile, since it was a Friday night and Kate was at a sleepover while Dorothy had gone to the movies with a friend, Hillary finally had the house to herself. Plus, somehow she had managed to get the next day, Saturday off from work. That was a rare feat so she was celebrating by enjoying a glass of Chardonnay or two (or three…) while she watched a movie that she had rented on her way home from work.   
She jumped in surprise however when the doorbell suddenly rang.   
_Who could that be?_ She thought as she paused the movie. She checked the time. It was nearly nine o’clock at night on a Friday night. Had Kate decided to come home from her sleepover early and forgotten her house key?   
With her wine glass in hand, she stumbled slightly to the door, thanks to the lightheadedness she was experiencing from the few glasses of wine she’d drank. She flung it open and was surprised to see… 

“Bill?”   
What the hell was he doing on her front porch at nine o’clock at night on a Friday night? How had he gotten her address?   
“Hillary?” Bill frowned, equally as confused as Hillary was.   
“Bill? What are you doing here?” She gave her colleague a quizzical look   
“Um...I came to see about an apartment for rent,” Bill explained and looked around in confusion. “Do I have the right address?” Confusedly, he looked between the advertisement in his hand and the house number.   
Hillary chuckled to herself. She had completely forgotten about that ad she had put in the paper, seeing as Bill was the first person to inquire about it.   
“Yeah, it is,” Hillary nodded, her words slightly slurred from the wine. “You have the right place. I rent out my apartment,” she chuckled quietly and nodded again. “I...um...have a basement apartment,” she awkwardly explained before she mentally kicked herself.   
_Of course he knows it's a basement apartment, Hillary._ _You put that in the ad._ _Duh!_   
She tried not to roll her eyes outwardly.   
Bill nodded, realizing his colleague was slightly drunk, probably from the wine that was in her right hand. “Mmmm hmmm.” He awkwardly chuckled and gave Hillary a half-smirk.   
“Would you like to see it?” Hillary offered. The words came out of her mouth before she could stop herself. “The apartment, I mean.”   
“Umm…” Bill nervously swallowed. “Yeah, sure.” He nodded, following Hillary’s lead.   
“You know, I don’t advertise it at the hospital because I always thought it might be, you know, a little awkward…” Hillary drunkenly rambled.   
“Ah," Bill nodded. He turned his body as if he was getting ready to walk away. He was sure he could find another option if Hillary was uncomfortable renting her basement apartment to a colleague. “Sure, of course. Well hey, if you’d rather not…”   
Hillary scoffed. “No…I was just…” She scoffed again and started laughing, the wine getting to her. “I was just, uh, just having a drink.” She giggled. “Would you like one?” She offered.

* * * * *

After Bill had accepted her invitation, Hillary swiftly poured him a glass of Chardonnay and led him down to the basement to show him the apartment. She stumbled slightly as they got to the bottom of the stairs, still feeling lightheaded from the wine. Bill put his large hand on her shoulder to steady her.   
“You okay?” He checked.   
“Oh yeah!” Hillary drunkenly giggled. “I’m fine.”   
“Okay,” Bill chuckled, thinking she was cute when she was tipsy.   
“So...yeah, this is the apartment,” Hillary gestured around with her hands. “I hope it’s not too small for you,” she joked, seeing Bill nearly had to duck while he was standing due to the low ceilings. “The bedroom’s through there…” she pointed towards a room that already had a bed and a nightstand in it. “This is the living room. It’s small but it works. Most of the tenants I had previously were able to fit a couch, coffee table, and a TV in here. And the bathroom’s this way.” She led him a few steps away to a tiny bathroom just big enough to fit a toilet, sink, and a shower stall.   
“This could definitely work for my needs,” Bill nodded, as he looked around the small but cozy apartment. It was slightly dark and gloomy seeing as it was well...a basement but Bill didn’t mind.   
“And of course you’d have access to the kitchen upstairs and the laundry room whenever you needed it,” Hillary explained, taking a sip of her wine as she pointed out the shared laundry room which was luckily accessible without needing to go into the apartment part of the basement. “And there’s also a deck and a grill out back if you wanted to sit out there and use it in the warmer months.”   
Bill nodded, taking everything in.   
“I do live with my mother and my daughter obviously. I hope that wouldn’t be a problem,” Hillary added, biting her lip.   
“No...it’s not a problem at all,” Bill assured her, taking a sip of his wine.   
Hillary nodded. “Good, good.”   
“I like your place, Hillary,” Bill complimented. “It suits you.” From what he had seen of the main floor, the essence of the place felt very...Hillary.   
“Thank you,” Hillary nodded, her cheeks flushing slightly with a light shade of pink. “I bought this place after my divorce and let me tell you. It was a _real_ fixer-upper when I first got it but I just fell in love with the place. It felt like home. The renovations and the repairs cost me a fortune though so I figured I could rent the basement out and make some extra cash,” she explained, taking another big gulp of wine.   
Bill nodded understandingly at her explanation. “Well, it’s a great house.” He could see why Hillary loved it so much. He loved the architecture and style of Chicago's older houses.   
“So, how about you think it over and I’ll talk things over with my mother as well?” Hillary suggested. “Are you working tomorrow? I can fax you over the rental application.”   
Bill nodded. “I’m in tomorrow morning, seven to seven.”   
Hillary nodded and tilted her head to the side in a slightly flirtatious manner. “Well, I’ll be in touch then.”   
  


* * * * *

After Bill had finished his glass of wine and Hillary had promised to be in touch about the apartment shortly, Bill went on his way and Hillary decided to read for a bit until her mom got home. She had swapped wine for water to sober up and was reading in the living room when Dorothy arrived home an hour later.   
“Hey, mom,” Hillary greeted as Dorothy walked through the door. “How was the movie?”   
Dorothy shrugged as she took off her coat and hung it up on the hooks by the front door. “It was fine. Entertaining enough. How was your night, dear?"  
“My night was great,” Hillary smiled as Dorothy took a seat on the couch next to her. “I had somebody come over to inquire about the basement apartment.”   
“Oh?” Dorothy raised an eyebrow, intrigued.   
“It was Bill,” Hillary admitted, a hint of pink rising in her cheeks. “That pediatric attending I’ve been telling you about. The one who took care of Kate’s wrist the other day.”  
“Oh!” Dorothy nodded enthusiastically. She had liked him from the brief time she had spent with him in the ER the day Kate had injured her wrist. “And?”   
“His landlord increased his rent so he’s looking for a more affordable place to live,” Hillary explained. “He liked the apartment.” She shrugged nonchalantly.   
“So, are you going to give it to him?” Dorothy asked curiously.   
“I don’t know…” Hillary hesitated, taking a sip from her glass of water. “He has a bit of a...reputation around the hospital.”   
“A reputation?” Dorothy’s brow furrowed in confusion.   
Hillary nodded. “He...he sleeps around a lot.” She awkwardly cleared her throat, figuring that was the most politically correct way to put it to her mother. “I don’t know if I want girls constantly coming and going, you know? I don’t want that kind of an environment for Kate.”   
“Well, you’re the landlady. Set some ground rules about visitors and guests,” Dorothy gently suggested. “And hey….there’s always the side door exit by the basement stairs.”   
“Mother!”   
Dorothy chuckled. “I say try it out for a few weeks, maybe a month or two and see how it goes. If he’s bringing too many women around then we can kick him out. Besides we could use the extra money if you still wanted to finish getting the roof repaired before winter.”   
Hillary nodded. Deep down she knew her mother was right. Dorothy and Hillary were always trying to help people in need in whatever ways they possibly could (while also trying to demonstrate and pass those values down to Kate) and this presented the perfect opportunity to be able to help a friend in need while also getting something valuable in return.   
"I'll think about it," Hillary finally said. 

To Be Continued… 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I need to write tipsy!Hillary more often. She's fun to write lol. And looks like Bill and Hillary are going to be roomies! :) 
> 
> Like I said, I will try to get to back to writing and updating this story as soon as possible because I do have lots of ideas for this one that just won't go away but updates might be slow since I am probably starting a new job in a couple of days. But I definitely still plan to work on this story when I can. :)


	4. A Little Bit Alexis

After talking it over with Kate and Dorothy one more time and everyone was fine with the decision, Hillary had officially let Bill move into her basement apartment. He had only moved in a few weeks prior but so far things had been going well. Bill got along well with Kate and Dorothy whenever they crossed paths, mostly when any of them needed to use the kitchen at the same time. And on nights when both him and Hillary were off, he had even joined the three women for dinner a few times. But most of all, he respected Hillary and Dorothy’s rules, especially about having guests over.  
He had brought women around but him and his dates weren’t loud and he made sure they came over after Kate was in bed and they left early in the morning while Kate (and sometimes Hillary) were still asleep. Dorothy was an early riser so she had noticed his one night stands doing the “walk of shame” and skulking off into the early morning darkness but it hadn’t caused any issues for any of the Rodham women so far. Overall, Dorothy, Bill, and Hillary were all very happy with the way the arrangement was working out. Plus, on days they worked the same shifts, Hillary liked having a friend to commute to and from work with. 

Everything was going smoothly on Bill’s end as well. He liked the house and the apartment, and he liked having Kate, Dorothy, and Hillary as roommates. He was enjoying getting to know them better and he had had fun on the nights he ate dinner with them. But suddenly one morning, he was woken up early to loud noises and footsteps above him coming from the kitchen as the smell of bacon, eggs, and pancakes wafted down the basement stairs. He frowned and checked the alarm clock on his nightstand. _5:35_ AM. Yes, he had to be at work in an hour and a half but he wouldn’t have minded an extra half an hour of sleep… 

He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and threw on a pair of grey sweatpants and an Arkansas Razorbacks T-shirt to go check out what was going on upstairs. Was there some kind of special occasion he hadn’t been aware of? Why was somebody in the Rodham household cooking a breakfast feast at 5:30 AM on a Thursday?  
  


As he sleepily stumbled upstairs and into the kitchen, he saw Dorothy standing over the stove cooking bacon while Hillary stood next to her making scrambled eggs. There was a stack of pancakes on the kitchen counter next to them.  
“Oh, you’re awake!” Dorothy said, noticing him standing at the top of the stairs. “We didn’t wake you did we?”  
“Yeah, you’re on at seven right?” Hillary asked.  
“Well...yeah,” Bill sleepily nodded. “What’s all this?”  
“Breakfast,” Hillary cheerfully answered, an early morning person just like her mother. “Coffee?”  
“Um...sure,” Bill nodded, still confused as to why the two women were cooking such an elaborate breakfast feast on a weekday. “Thanks.”  
“No problem,” Hillary said, walking over to the coffee pot and pouring Bill a mug of fresh coffee. She was already changed into her light blue scrubs, had her hair pulled up into a bun on the top of her head and she looked ready to go to work for the day. She added cream and sugar to Bill’s coffee, the way he liked it she had learned.  
“So, what’s all this?” Bill asked again, as he accepted the steaming mug of coffee from Hillary and sat down at the kitchen table.  
“Breakfast,” Hillary repeated, chuckling.  
“But...it’s Thursday,” Bill chuckled. He would have only expected this kind of a breakfast spread on a Saturday or Sunday not a random weekday.  
“So?” Dorothy said. “I like sending Hillary to work with a full stomach. You guys work crazy hours and go too long without a break to eat.”  
“Wait...you guys do this every morning?” Bill realized, his brow furrowing in confusion. While he had been living with the Rodham’s, he had mostly just noticed them eating toast or cereal for breakfast, at least on the weekdays when Hillary had a day shift and she had to get Kate off to school on time. He realized Dorothy or Hillary sometimes cooked bacon and eggs on the weekends but nothing like the spread that they were preparing now.  
“Oh, yes,” Dorothy nodded cheerfully like it was nothing out of the ordinary as she transferred the bacon from the frying pan onto a plate and dabbed the grease off of it with a piece of paper towel.  
Hillary chuckled seeing the look of confusion on Bill’s face. She smirked.  
“We were waiting for you to settle in first.”  
  


* * * * * 

“Time Of Death…” Bill glanced up at the clock across from him on the wall of the trauma room. “10:35 AM.” He harshly sighed and shook his head to himself as he ripped off his gloves and yellow plastic trauma gown. Of course you couldn’t save everybody, sometimes people’s maladies or injuries were just too severe but that didn’t mean it didn’t sting when you did absolutely everything you possibly could but the patient still died. As had been the case with the innocent bystander in a liquor store robbery gone wrong who had just succumbed to his gunshot wounds.  
Bill shook his head to himself again as he disposed of his gloves and trauma gown into the garbage and headed over to the admit desk. He wasn’t even supposed to be working that day but he had agreed to switch shifts with Dr. Al Gore who had a family obligation that day. In that moment, Bill was really regretting switching shifts seeing as it wasn’t even noon yet and it had already been a hell of a morning. A day that had started off wonderfully with a delicious breakfast and excellent company was quickly going sour by the minute.  
“Dr. Clinton, you have a call holding on line two,” Miranda, the current desk clerk on duty, told Bill as he arrived at the admit desk.  
Bill nodded. “Thanks, Miranda.” He sighed and picked up the phone. “Hello, ER. Bill Clinton speaking...what are you serious?...But we’ve had these plans for weeks...fine...fine...no, I understand...okay...talk to you later.” He angrily hung up the phone, slamming the receiver down causing Miranda to jump in surprise. As if his day couldn’t get any worse…  
“What is it, Bill?” Dr. Michelle Robinson, a second year ER Resident, asked Bill from the other side of the admit desk where she was signing off on charts. “Hot date cancel on you or something?” She teased with a smirk eliciting a chuckle from the other ER staff members who were working and mingling around the desk.  
“Something like that,” Bill rolled his eyes and grabbed the chart of his next patient. He groaned. “What am I supposed to do now?”  
Michelle shrugged and took a sip of her coffee. “Ask someone else.”  
Bill looked at Michelle expectantly.   
“Well don’t look at _me_!” Michelle corrected. “Barack and I are going to the movies tonight,” she explained before she grabbed a chart from the stack and went to attend to her next patient.  
“Has anyone seen Hillary?” Bill asked, sighing harshly.  
“I think she’s doing inventory in the drug lockup,” Miranda informed him.  
Bill nodded. “Thanks.”  
  


* * * * *

With cold and flu season officially upon them, Bill had had to deal with a bunch of cases of kids with runny noses, upset stomachs, and fevers before he could finally catch up with Hillary who had now moved on from doing inventory in the drug lockup to restocking a shipment of medical supplies in the trauma rooms.  
He found her in Trauma One, putting away and organizing the intubation trays.  
“Hey,” Hillary chirped when she noticed Bill enter the room.  
“Hey,” Bill gruffly replied.  
“What’s up?” Hillary asked him, realizing he seemed a bit out of sorts compared to how he had been earlier that morning.  
Bill harshly sighed. “Listen, I know it's short notice but how do you feel about dinner and dancing at the history museum tonight? If you’re free I mean and if your mom is okay with watching Kate. My date just cancelled on me and I already purchased these tickets months ago.”  
Hillary raised an eyebrow and looked at Bill quizzically. “Dinner and dancing at the Natural Museum of History?”  
“Yeah, it’s a charity gala,” Bill explained. “A good friend of mine from medical school has an organization that provides medical staff and supplies to underserved communities.”  
“Oh, Bill. I don't know…” Hillary nervously said. She didn’t really feel like going out that night even though she was getting off work early that day to take Kate to a dentist appointment which would give her plenty of time to get ready for the gala after Kate’s appointment. And she didn’t have to go in to work until noon on Friday.  
“Come on, it’ll be fun,” Bill encouraged, smiling a little. He didn’t really feel like going to this thing either after the day he was having but he had told his friend he would be there and he had already bought the tickets. “You deserve a night out. And hey, if anything, it’s a free meal, right?”  
Hillary sighed feeling conflicted. She didn’t want his tickets to go to waste and she was always down for helping a good cause but she also didn’t really feel like going to a fancy party that night either.   
“Please?” Bill begged. “I’d really love it if you came. We don’t have to stay for long. If you hate it, we can leave after half an hour.”  
Hillary bit her lip and sighed. She nodded after a beat and softly smiled, Bill’s persistence wearing her down. “Fine. I’ll come.”  
“Perfect." Bill grinned. "Be ready by seven."  
Hillary nodded and went back to restocking medical supplies.   
Bill smiled broadly to himself as he walked away, back towards the admit desk. His day was starting to look up. 

* * * * *  
  


Hillary on the other hand was regretting her decision to go with Bill to the gala when she was going through her closet later that day and she realized she had nothing suitable to wear. She pretty much lived in scrubs, jeans, and pajamas. Her options for fancy going out clothes were pretty limited and since the invitation had been so last minute she hadn’t had time to go shopping for a new dress. Her dress options were either a light purple dress from when she had been a bridesmaid in her brother’s wedding a few years prior or dresses that were more suited to a casual spring or summer event, not a charity gala in the middle of fall.  
She sighed in frustration and eventually settled for a classic black pantsuit. With her hair and makeup done, she went downstairs to wait for Bill in the living room. She took a seat beside her mom on the couch.  
“ _That’s_ what you’re wearing?” Dorothy asked, not looking impressed as she looked up from the book she had been reading.  
“Yeah.” Hillary shrugged. “Why? What’s wrong with it?”  
“Well, didn’t you say this was a charity gala?” Dorothy pointed out.  
“Yeah?” Hillary shrugged again. “Your point is?”  
“Don’t you have something a little more...dressier?” Dorothy gently suggested. “Come on, let’s go take a look in your closet. I’m sure we can find something nice.”  
“Mom, don’t.” Hillary shook her head, satisfied with her outfit choice just as Bill came upstairs from the basement, dressed in a full tuxedo.  
Dorothy gave Hillary an ‘ _I told you so_ ’ look.  
Hillary chuckled. “Be right back. I need to change,” she quickly realized as she was definitely underdressed compared to Bill’s outfit. This event was definitely fancier than she initially thought.  
“You never told me this was going to be a formal thing,” she jokingly accused Bill.  
“I didn’t?” Bill asked. Honestly, he had just assumed that Hillary would figure that out on her own. He shrugged. “Yeah, it’s formal.”  
“I need to change,” Hillary repeated with a chuckle. “You tricked me,” she teased.  
“What are you talking about?” Bill asked. “You look _terrific._ ” This was the first time he had seen Hillary with her hair down (she usually wore it in a braid or a high ponytail) and he loved how her hair perfectly framed her face with the ends curled slightly. Her makeup was perfect and her black pantsuit hugged her curves in all the right places.  
“But we don’t match,” Hillary pointed out. She rolled her eyes. “I don’t even know if I have a dress that’s suitable.”  
“Want to go buy one?” Bill kindly offered.  
Dorothy chuckled. “Just give us one minute, Bill. I’ll go help her find something.”  
  


* * * * *

After helping Hillary find something else to wear, Dorothy went to go help Kate with her homework while Hillary went back downstairs to meet Bill, after settling on the pale purple strapless bridesmaids dress.  
Bill’s breath hitched in his throat as he watched Hillary come down the stairs. She had looked beautiful before but she looked absolutely _gorgeous_ now. Bill wasn’t used to seeing Hillary in something other than scrubs or pajamas.  
“Okay, let’s go,” Hillary said, wrapping a matching light purple shawl around her shoulders and picking up her silver clutch purse from where she had left it on an end table.  
“Wow, that looks great,” Bill complimented, looking Hillary up and down still.  
Hillary chuckled and scoffed. “It’s a bridesmaids dress from my brother’s wedding.”  
“Oh, really?” Bill said surprised. He didn’t know much about fashion but it definitely didn’t stand out as a bridesmaids dress and it would definitely work for this occasion. “Well, it works on you.”  
“You’re lying!” Hillary accused with a playful smirk.   
“No, I’m not.” Bill shook his head, one hundred percent telling the truth. “No, no. It looks like it was made for you.”  
Hillary snorted and playfully rolled her eyes. “Okay, now I _know_ you’re lying. Let’s just go.”  
  


* * * * *

“You know, in all the years I’ve lived in Chicago—my whole life basically—I haven’t been to the history museum since I was a little girl?” Hillary mused as the two of them walked into the lobby of the museum and made their way through the crowd of other gala attendees.  
“Really?” Bill asked, looking surprised.  
Hillary nodded. “I was supposed to be a parent volunteer on one of Kate’s school field trips once but I got called into work at the last minute and Steven went instead.” She chuckled at the memory.  
Bill chuckled and nodded understandingly as he noticed his friend’s wife greeting the party guests at the entrance to the ballroom where the event was being held.  
“Marcia!” Bill happily greeted, leading Hillary over to the tall red-headed thirtysomething woman.  
“Bill!” Marcia looked happy to see Bill in return. “Finally! Someone I was really looking forward to seeing.” The woman turned to look at Hillary. “And is this your friend? The...the waitress, right?”  
“Oh, no, she has the flu." Bill shook his head, referring to the woman who had cancelled on him at the last minute.  
Marcia nodded understandingly and looked at Hillary curiously. “And you are?”  
“Hillary Rodham,” Bill introduced. “She’s an ER nurse at County with me. Hillary, this is Marcia Brookes. Her husband Doug runs The Brookes Foundation.”  
“It’s very nice to meet you,” Marcia said, shaking Hillary’s hand. “We don’t get to meet many of Bill’s...friends,” Marcia teased.  
“Well, you got lucky tonight,” Bill smiled, taking the jab goodheartedly but his face still flushed a light shade of pink at the joke. “Is Doug around here somewhere?” He asked.  
“Yeah, I’d love to meet him,” Hillary interjected enthusiastically.  
Marcia nodded. “He should be inside somewhere. I think he was talking to the keynote speaker last I saw him. Go on in, you two.”  
“Shall we?” Bill asked, taking Hillary by the arm.  
“It was very nice to meet you,” Hillary politely said to Marcia as Bill started pulling her inside.  
“Have a good time,” Marcia encouraged with a kind smile.  
  


“The waitress?” Hillary asked Bill with a raised eyebrow as they entered the gala. It was typical for that kind of an event. There was a live jazz band playing all the standards, and caterers were circulating the room with large trays of drinks and canapes.  
Bill chuckled. “I kind of had a casual thing going on with a waitress from that Irish pub near the hospital…” He shook his head. “You know what, never mind.”  
Hillary laughed. “No, tell me!”  
“Do you like to dance?” Bill asked her, changing the subject as they watched numerous couples swaying to the music out on the dance floor as the band played _The Way You Look Tonight_ .  
“I don’t know,” Hillary chuckled. “Do you?”  
Bill nodded and playfully smiled. “Yeah, I have a few moves.”  
“I bet you do,” Hillary sarcastically retorted.  
“Care to give it a whirl?” Bill offered.  
“Mmm, I don’t know.” Hillary looked hesitant. She was pretty sure the last time she had danced had been at her wedding, _years_ ago.  
“Just follow me,” Bill assured Hillary, leading her out onto the dance floor. “I’ve got you,” He said, taking her right hand and placing his left hand on the small of her back. Hillary did the same, taking his right hand and placing her other hand on Bill’s shoulder.  
“I am having strong flashbacks to my senior prom,” Hillary joked with a small chuckle. “I went with this guy, Stuart, we were the heads of the Prom committee together. But really...I had a crush on this other guy...Bobby.”  
“I am feeling for Stuart in this situation,” Bill joked as they gently swayed to the music.  
“Well, when Stuart went to the bathroom, Bobby asked me if I wanted to go outside with him and smoke a cigarette and well…” Hillary chuckled. “We never made it back inside.”  
“Oh, that’s just cruel.” Bill playfully shook his head and smirked.  
“I know,” Hillary admitted with a snicker. “And things didn’t end up working out with Bobby in the end anyways.”  
“But you don’t smoke, do you?” Bill asked. Because he had been living with Hillary for several weeks now and he had never noticed her going outside for a cigarette.  
“Oh God no.” Hillary vigorously shook her head. As a nurse she was all too well aware of the risks smoking caused. “That was my first and last cigarette,” she explained.  
“Good.” Bill nodded as he stared at Hillary, in awe of her poise and beauty while they danced.  
  


* * * * *

When they got tired from dancing and needed a breather a while later, Bill pulled Hillary off to the side and grabbed two glasses of white wine from a passing tray.  
“Thank you,” Hillary gratefully said as Bill handed her one of them and led her over to a nearby table.  
“Oh, God no,” Bill suddenly said, seeing a familiar slightly wavy blonde head of hair near the bar area.  
“What is it?” Hillary asked, giving Bill a worried look as the young blonde girl noticed them and started approaching. Hillary realized the young woman looked like she recognized Bill.   
“That’s Alexis, my ex-girlfriend.” Bill groaned and looked embarrassed.  
“Is she even old enough to drink?” Hillary teased, noticing that the girl who was walking over to them with a vodka martini in her hands, looked like she couldn’t be much older than twenty-one or twenty-two.  
But Bill was too scared and embarrassed to hear Hillary’s joke, he let it go right over his head.  
“Hello, Bill,” Alexis said, giving Bill and Hillary an icy stare as she approached the two of them.  
“What are you doing here?” Bill asked her, giving her an equally icy glare.  
“Marcia and Doug invited me. Same as you." Alexis shrugged. “And who is this?” she asked, gesturing towards Hillary.   
“This is my friend, Hillary Rodham,” Bill explained, looking defensive.  
“Hi,” Hillary awkwardly said.  
“Hi,” Alexis retorted with an exaggerated eye roll.  
“This is Alexis,” Bill repeated, with a tight jaw. “Alexis Rosen.”  
Hillary nodded awkwardly, desperately trying to think of a reason to excuse herself away from the two exes.  
“So, what are you doing at a charity event?” Bill asked Alexis in an annoyed tone of voice.  
“Well, I was _invited,_ ” Alexis replied in a high pitched sing-song voice. “And...I’m here with Rick.”  
“Rick?” Bill asked, looking confused, not knowing anyone named Rick.  
Just then, an older fortysomething sandy haired man with a smug look on his face and a little too much bronzer approached them, holding a beer. Bill realized he recognized the man, Richard ‘Rick’ Johnson, he was a famous real estate developer in Chicago. Bill had seen him on the news before, bragging about some new hotel and condo he was developing and planning to build in downtown Chicago.  
“Lex, who’s this?” Rick asked Alexis, taking a swig of his beer.  
“ _This_ is Bill,” Alexis said, barely withholding her contempt for her ex-boyfriend.  
“Oh,” Rick said, with a smirk on his face.  
God knows what kind of things Alexis had told her new boyfriend about Bill, Bill thought.  
“Hi,” Bill gruffly said.  
“Hi,” Rick said, keeping the smug smile on his face.  
“Well, we should probably be heading home,” Hillary tried saving Bill from the awkward encounter.  
“Let’s go sit down, Lex,” Rick agreed.  
“Well, it was nice seeing you again, Bill,” Alexis sarcastically said as she let Rick pull her away and over to their table.

Bill suddenly turned to Hillary as Alexis and Rick walked away. “Am I awake or was that just some horrible nightmare?”  
  


* * * * * *

“This is _so_ typical of Alexis,” Bill rolled his eyes as he and Hillary walked through the museum’s parking lot, looking for Alexis’ car. “And _of_ _course_ she’s with a smug fucking asshole now like Rick Johnson.” Bill angrily shook his head.  
Hillary wasn’t sure if Bill was angry because he felt embarrassed by the encounter or if he still had some residual feelings leftover for his ex-girlfriend. Hillary figured maybe it was a bit of both.   
“Do _you_ think a guy like Rick Johnson is attractive, Hillary?” Bill asked, wanting a woman’s opinion.  
“I’m not going to answer that,” Hillary chuckled and shook her head as she wrapped her arms around herself, trying in vain to protect herself from the cold Chicago November air. “Why are we doing this again?” she asked Bill, as Bill continued searching for Alexis’ car.  
“I don’t see it,” Bill said in an annoyed tone of voice.  
“Bill, let’s go home. This is stupid,” Hillary shook her head. “What if they took _his_ car?”  
“Just help me look, Hillary,” Bill insisted, feeling frustrated. “It’s a silver Lexus SUV.”  
“Wait, Alexis drives a Lexus?” Hillary started laughing hysterically at her own joke and at the realization that Alexis did indeed drive...a Lexus.   
Bill didn’t look amused at the joke.  
Hillary sighed. “What are you going to do if we find it, Bill? Key it?”  
“I don’t know,” Bill admitted. “Maybe I’ll just slash the tires.” He smirked.  
“That would be overkill wouldn’t it?” Hillary said but it was too late. From the look on Bill’s face, he had spotted Alexis’ Lexus.  
“Do you have something sharp?” Bill asked Hillary, running over to the car.  
“I think so,” Hillary admitted, running after Bill. She opened her clutch purse. “I have tweezers?”  
“That'll do,” Bill said. “I’m going to be restrained and just let the air out of the tires. Two’s fair.”  
Hillary harshly sighed. “Bill, you _don’t_ have to do this.”  
She knew Bill was a better man than this, despite whatever had happened between him and his ex-girlfriend in the past.  
“Let’s just go get some dinner,” Hillary tried. She was _starving_ seeing as they had left the event before dinner was served. “My treat.”  
Bill sighed and looked down at his hands. He frowned as he realized Hillary was right. Despite what had happened between him and Alexis in the past and no matter how much he hated and resented Alexis now (and her new asshole boyfriend), he didn’t want to do something he would regret in the morning. Sure, Alexis was young, vain, and vapid but she didn’t deserve the inconvenience of a flat tire on a freezing cold November night.   
“Fine,” Bill harshly sighed and nodded. “I’m hungry, too.”  
Hillary weakly smiled and nodded, glad that Bill had conceded and decided not to mess with Alexis’ car after all. “Let’s go then.”  
  


* * * * *

“I hope I didn’t ruin our night, Hillary,” Bill sincerely apologized as they climbed into Bill’s car. “I am sorry about Alexis.”  
“Ruined? Our night isn’t ruined,” Hillary assured Bill with a gentle smile.  
“What about the almost vandalism, or the fact that now we’re freezing?” Bill pointed out with a chuckle.  
Hillary chuckled and waved him off. “Don’t worry about any of that.I just feel bad that you didn’t even get a chance to _speak_ to your friend, Doug.”  
Bill shrugged as he started the car. “He knows I was there. That’s enough for me.”  
Hillary nodded understandingly. “See? Nothing is ruined.”  
Bill nodded and softly smiled in agreement. “I had an okay time, actually. I mean all things considered.”  
Hillary gently smiled and slightly nodded. “Me, too.”  
“Good.” Bill nodded again as he pulled out of the museum’s parking lot.  
"And, hey, Bill?" Hillary suddenly said.   
"Yeah?" Bill asked with a curious look on his face.   
"I don't know what happened between you and Alexis but whatever it was..." Hillary paused and tenderly smiled over at Bill. "She didn't deserve a guy like you."   
Bill softly smiled over at Hillary while the car was stopped at a red light. He nodded, feeling slightly better already. "Thanks, Hillary."   
“Don't mention it." Hillary gave Bill a kind and reassuring smile before she changed the subject. "Now, where would you like to go for dinner?” She asked. The two of them were literally the epitome of the phrase ‘all dressed up with nowhere to go.’ “It's my treat.”  
Bill suddenly got a mischievous smirk on his face and a playful glint in his eyes as he pondered that question. “How does McDonald's sound to you?”  
  


To Be Continued…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am SO exhausted and it is passed my bedtime but I missed fan fiction lol. I am SO GLAD the weekend is almost upon us and I can try to get some writing done and catch up on reading some of YOUR fics! I am also very excited for chapter 5 of this fic and can't wait to see how it turns out, whenever I get a chance to sit down and write it (hopefully soon lol). 
> 
> Hope you all have been doing well and thank you so much for reading! It is much appreciated! <3


	5. Under The Knife

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I finally had some time to work on this one, yay! :)

A few days after the gala, Hillary was sitting at her kitchen table an hour before her night shift was scheduled to begin, picking at the fettuccine alfredo with chicken, peas, and broccoli that she had made for dinner. With her other hand she was clutching her lower right side which had been throbbing in pain all day. She was a nurse, she knew better. She knew what stomach pain in the lower right quadrant meant but she was determined to ignore it and push through. They were already short nurses so there was no way she could call in sick now.    
“Are you okay, Hillary?” Bill asked as he waltzed into the kitchen and walked over to the stove to make himself a plate of pasta to eat before going into work that night as well.    
Hillary shrugged as she pushed her food around on her plate, not having an appetite at all. “I’m fine.”    
“You don’t look so good.” Bill frowned as he scooped the leftover pasta that was on the stove into a bowl.    
“It’s just that time of the month,” Hillary lied with another shrug.    
Bill simply nodded. Being a doctor, he wasn’t phased by this explanation at all. “Maybe you should call in sick?” He suggested, noticing Hillary looked paler and more tired than usual.    
“I can’t.” Hillary vigorously shook her head. “Kelly is already on vacation and we’re short nurses. If I call in tonight, they’d be screwed.”    
“Well, at least try to eat,” Bill urged as he sat down with his plate across the table from his roommate and colleague, noticing that Hillary wasn’t really eating the dinner she had prepared.    
“I’m eating.” Hillary shrugged again and grabbed a banana from the bunch that was sitting in the center of the table. That was all she figured she could stomach at that moment.   
Bill nodded, knowing Hillary was stubborn and that he shouldn’t push her.    
Meanwhile, Hillary slowly ate her banana and tried to ignore her stomach pain that was getting worse by the minute.    
  


* * * * * *

Night shifts could go either way in terms of how busy they were. They were either incredibly hectic or...incredibly slow. And Hillary was grateful that tonight it was the latter. It had been the first major snowfall of the season and that seemed to be keeping people at home and away from the hospital. Hillary was mentally preparing for the inevitable onslaught of car accidents that the first snowfall of the season always brought, but for now she was enjoying the relatively slow pace of that night’s shift and she was trying to push through and ignore her stomach pain as much as possible.    
  


“Okay, on my count…” Michelle began as she and the nurses prepared to transfer a victim of a hit and run who had just been brought into the ER from the stretcher and onto the trauma table. “1...2...3!”    
Hillary had been feeling okay but as they lifted the patient and transferred him, Hillary suddenly felt an intense sharp stab of pain. She winced and stumbled backwards just as the medical team successfully transferred the patient.    
“Are you okay, Hillary?” Michelle - who was running the trauma- asked Hillary with a frown.    
“I’m fine,” Hillary nodded, as she regained her bearings and got back to work. She busied herself by starting an IV for the patient and drawing his blood.    
Michelle just frowned again and nodded as she prepared to intubate the patient. She thought that something about Hillary seemed a little  _ off _ that night  but she couldn’t quite put her finger on what exactly was going on with the Charge Nurse.    
  


* * * * * *

After the hit and run victim had been rushed upstairs to the OR for emergency surgery and Hillary’s stomach pain had suddenly intensified in just a matter of minutes, Hillary decided to finally confirm her suspicions once and for all. She found the ultrasound machine in Exam Room 2, where someone had last been using it, and she started wheeling it down the hallway to Curtain Area 3 where she figured she might be able to get some privacy.    
Dr. Nancy Pelosi, the Chief of Emergency Services had come down to the ER from her upstairs office to check on things in the ER before she went home for the night. She frowned when she saw Hillary wheeling the ultrasound machine down the hallway, always mentally keeping track of what resources were being utilized and how.    
“Where are you going with the ultrasound machine, Hillary?” Nancy asked as her and Hillary passed each other in the hall.    
Hillary froze like a deer caught in headlights and quickly tried to think up an excuse. “Oh! Dr. Gore needs it in Curtain Three.” She pasted on a smile, hoping her explanation was convincing enough for her boss.    
Nancy shrugged, having more important things to deal with, and nodded. “Goodnight, Hillary.”    
“Have a good night, Nancy.” Hillary’s smile turned into a genuine one as she wished her boss a goodnight and continued down the hallway.    
A few feet down the hallway, Michelle, who had been taking advantage of it being a slow night and was catching up on QA'ing charts at the admit desk, had overheard the conversation and she wasn’t so convinced about why Hillary was bringing the ultrasound machine to Curtain Three. Especially  _ because _ she knew that Dr. Gore wasn’t even  _ in _ the hospital at that moment. In fact, after Michelle had finished up in her last trauma, Dr. Al Gore had asked her to cover for him while he ran to the convenience store across the street from the hospital to grab a coffee.    
Michelle slowly put down her pen and pushed her charts off to the side to finish up later as she decided to go find out what was going on with Hillary.    
  


The young doctor made her way down the hallway to Curtain Area Three and peaked her head inside. She saw Hillary sitting on the edge of the bed attempting to do an ultrasound on herself. This was apparently proving to be harder than it should be as she noticed Hillary awkwardly moving the transducer around on her lower abdomen as she squinted at the screen, trying to get a clear picture.    
“What are you doing, Hillary?” Michelle asked her colleague, pushing back the curtain to let Hillary know that she was standing there.    
Hillary looked up in surprise as Michelle pulled the curtain closed again, to give the two women some privacy.    
“Oh, hey,” Hillary awkwardly said, appearing quite flustered. More flustered than Michelle had ever seen the usually strong and capable Nurse Manager.    
“Are you pregnant, Hillary?” Michelle asked, looking at Hillary in confusion.    
“Oh, God, no!” Hillary managed to chuckle at that. “I was just um…” She tried to think of an excuse just as everything started clicking for Michelle. Between the ultrasound, Hillary clutching at the lower right part of her stomach in the trauma a few minutes prior, and the fact that Hillary was obviously in  _ a lot  _ of pain during the trauma...   
“It’s your appendix,” Michelle suddenly said as the realization dawned on her.    
Hillary bit her lip and nodded. “I think so.”    
“Lay back,” Michelle instructed the slightly older woman, wanting to help confirm Hillary’s suspicions as she snapped on a pair of gloves to do an exam.    
Hillary nodded, doing what the second year resident had instructed she do as she lay down on the gurney and passed the ultrasound transducer over to Michelle. Usually she didn’t like people fussing over her but she just wanted to know what was wrong with her. She lifted up her blue scrub top slightly to let Michelle have easier access.    
“Is this tender?” Michelle asked, gently pressing down on Hillary’s stomach.    
“Oww!” Hillary yelped in surprise.    
“Well, that’s a yes,” Michelle realized as she turned her attention to the ultrasound. She frowned as her and Hillary’s suspicions looked to be confirmed. Hillary’s appendix was definitely inflamed and ready to burst at any minute if they didn’t remove it ASAP.    
“I’ll call Joe,” Michelle suddenly said, referring to Joe Biden who was the on-call surgeon that night.    
Hillary nodded and sadly sighed in a resigned manner. She nervously swallowed as she began mentally preparing herself to go in for emergency surgery.   
  


* * * * *

Meanwhile, Bill had been paged upstairs to the OB floor to assist in a high risk delivery of premature twins. After the babies had been born and Bill had seen them through to their NICU admission and made sure they and their very anxious parents were settling in okay, Bill decided to go back down to the ER and resume treating patients down there.    
As he walked down the stairs and over towards the admit desk, he took in the ER’s eerie stillness and calmness that could only be found in the middle of the night when the ER was slow. After realizing that the only patient waiting to be seen was waiting to get sutures for a head laceration and that he could pass that case off to a medical student, he decided to try to find Hillary. He hadn’t seen much of her at work that night and he wanted to make sure that she was doing alright after she hadn’t been feeling well earlier in the evening.   
“Has anyone seen Hillary?” Bill asked the desk clerk on duty.    
“You didn’t hear?” Michelle asked, from where she had been typing a patient’s vitals into the electronic record of their chart. She stopped typing and looked up from the computer and over at Bill.    
“Hear what?” Bill asked nervously, feeling sick to his stomach all of a sudden. What if something was actually seriously wrong with Hillary? "What's going on? I was up in OB assisting in a delivery."    
“Hillary got taken upstairs about fifteen minutes or so ago,” Matt, the desk clerk on duty said, looking up from the book he had been reading.   
Michelle nodded affirmatively. “She’s in surgery right now, Bill. Emergency appendectomy.”    
The words were barely out of Michelle’s mouth before Bill’s long legs carried him over to the stairwell as he started running upstairs to the surgical floor, not having the patience to wait for the elevator.    
  


* * * * * *

He frowned a few minutes later as he stared through the window of the observation gallery and saw Hillary laid out unconscious, cold and bare, on the operating table as Joe swiftly and skillfully went about removing her appendix. Having once been a surgical intern himself before he changed his mind and decided to go into pediatric emergency medicine instead, he knew his way around an appendectomy and he knew that in all likelihood Hillary would be just fine, it was a relatively routine procedure. But that reassuring thought still didn’t make the knot in his stomach that had formed go away.    
Rather than watch helplessly from the observation gallery, he went downstairs to the scrub room, put on a white surgical mask and pushed his way into the OR.    
“Bill?” Joe looked up in surprise as he saw someone entering the room.    
“Hi, Joe,” Bill curtly said, making sure to stay near the door and not to enter the sterile field. “May I scrub in?”    
Joe harshly sighed as he got back to work. “I know she’s your friend but she’s going to be fine, Bill. This is a totally routine procedure. So either get back to work or observe from the gallery.”    
Bill stared at his former mentor and friend with pleading, desperate eyes. “I’d really like to scrub in, Joe. She’s my roommate and I just want to see for myself that she’ll be okay.”    
Joe, hearing the desperation in his friend’s voice, looked up and noticed the pleading look in his former student's eyes. He had heard something through the rumour mill about Bill moving in with Hillary as her roommate and he could tell from Bill’s face and tone of voice that he obviously cared deeply for his roommate and colleague. Joe harshly sighed again. “Fine,” he reluctantly agreed. If it was his friend or family member on the operating table, he would be acting exactly the same way probably, he realized. “You can scrub in. But don’t get in the way. You can observe and _that’s it_.”    
  


* * * * * 

Even though Bill had scrubbed in on his fair share of appendectomies back in his surgical internship days and it was a pretty basic surgical procedure, he was still grateful and relieved that Joe clearly explained everything he was doing, and that he took Bill and the surgical intern who had also scrubbed in, through the procedure from start to finish. Whether it was for Bill’s sake or the surgical intern’s sake, Bill wasn’t sure but he sure was grateful for Joe’s friendship and compassion.    
And before he knew it, the surgery was done and Hillary had been taken to the recovery room while they waited for the anesthesia to wear off before she could be transferred to an actual hospital room.    
After he had gone to the waiting room to give Dorothy and Kate (who had rushed to the hospital as soon as Hillary had called her mother to explain the situation and to let Dorothy know that she was being taken in for emergency surgery) an update and to let them know that everything had gone well, Bill went to the recovery room to sit with Hillary until she woke up. Family wasn't allowed in the recovery room and Bill wanted Hillary to have a familiar face there by her side when she woke up.    
  


“Hey,” Bill whispered, squeezing Hillary’s hand reassuringly when he noticed her stirring after a while. He gently stroked her long blonde hair and watched as her blue eyes fluttered open.    
“Hi,” Bill softly whispered again, smiling down at Hillary.    
“Hi,” Hillary sleepily croaked out in a hoarse voice, struggling to keep her eyes open, still feeling groggy as the effects of the anesthesia slowly started to wear off. “What happened?” She sleepily mumbled.    
“You gave us a bit of a scare,” Bill began, staring at Hillary tenderly. “You had appendicitis and needed emergency surgery. But everything’s fine now. You’re going to be just fine, Hill,” he said in a calm and reassuring tone of voice. “Your mom and Kate are right outside in the waiting room and they’re eager to see you. Hopefully you’ll be moved to a room shortly.”    
Hillary sleepily nodded as the events from the past few hours slowly started coming back to her. She stared up at Bill and suddenly gave him a sleepy, goofy grin. “Has anyone ever told you that you have amazing hair? It’s so thick and curly.” She suddenly started giggling hysterically.    
“And someone’s still a little loopy from the anaesthesia,” Bill teased with a smirk, relieved that she seemed to be in good spirits even if he knew her good mood was mostly due to the effects of the anesthesia and the painkillers she had been given.    
“And your hands. Oh my God!” Hillary picked up Bill’s left hand and started absentmindedly playing with his long and elegant fingers. “Your hands are so big, Bill,” Hillary marvelled before she started giggling again. “You should have been a surgeon with hands like those, not a pediatrician.” She smirked.    
“I was a surgeon,” Bill deadpanned.    
“What?” Hillary asked, her brow furrowing in confusion as she frowned.    
“Never mind.” Bill chuckled, realizing he would have to regale her with tales from his surgical internship days some other time when she was more lucid.    
Hillary suddenly yawned.    
“You should go back to sleep, Hill,” Bill encouraged, squeezing her hand again.    
Hillary nodded, too tired to argue with Bill. Feeling exhausted and heavy, she flopped back in the bed against the pillows and closed her eyes. 

“Bill?” She suddenly said a few minutes later, just as her breathing had started to even out and Bill thought she was starting to fall asleep.    
“Yes, Hillary?” Bill asked, making sure she didn’t need anything before she went to sleep.    
Hillary opened her eyes and a sleepy, goofy grin appeared on her face again. “I love you, Bill,” She suddenly announced before she closed her eyes again.    
“What?” Bill frowned in confusion. Had Hillary just said what he  _ thought _ she had said?? No she couldn’t have...   
But before he could press the issue further or ask for clarification, Hillary was already sound asleep again.    
Bill quietly sighed to himself and gently stroked Hillary’s hair, being careful not to wake her. “Goodnight, Hillary,” he softly whispered as he stared at her tenderly and lovingly. 

  
  
  
To Be Continued…    


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hehe ;)


End file.
